TORONTO — The opening Shot of the working people’s “crusade to. unite and fight Trudeau’s wage cutting policy” Was fired by William Kashtan, Seneral secretary of the Com- _ Mmunist Party of Canada at a _ Packed meeting at the Westbury Hotel, Oct. 23. In the opening address of a _ f0ss-country tour the Commun- | ist leader labelled the federal S0vernment’s policy “a policy designed not to cope with infla- tion but a policy designed to Cepe with the working class.” The hard hitting speech dealt | With a strongly critical exposure | of the federal _ white paper entitled “Attack on “Inflation” whose main emphasis, the Communist leader said, was _ to launch “a war on the working Class to depress wages, and | freeze wages, to allow profits to tise and prices to soar.” __ Kashtan also called on the New Democratic Party leader- Ship, to shift from its “policies of accommodation to capitalism and of trying to improve -capital- ism, to instituting policies that will ‘challenge capitalism.” He Called on them to “unite with Other democratic forces includ-

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ia iia ‘. " —— , “

Crusade which is now necessary. . Sharing the brightly decorated Platform with Kashtan were Some of the leaders of the par- ty’s provincial organizations in- - Cluding Ontario’s William Stew- art, B.C.’s Nigel Morgan, Alber- _ ta’s William Tuomi and Sas-

AT FALCONBRIDGE

SUDBURY — Pulling into the lth week of the strike against | the giant multi-national Falcon-

bridge Nickle Mines Co., Local 598, Sudbury Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union shows No sign of weakening in its de- _ termination to secure a decent ‘Settlement from the tight-fisted and hard nosed corporation.

All has been- silent on the bargaining front since talks be- tween the company and the union broke down for the sec- Ond time’ on Oct. 3, with the Company refusing to discuss the ‘Uunion’s 1]-point proposal for a _ Settlement. :

_. Three main points loom cen- -trally from the 11-point pro- '&ram and they include telescop- ing the three-year contract into two years, immediate implemen- tation of the cost-of-living ad- _ Justment and adjustments in the _ Pension plan.

_ - A hallmark of the strike has €n the positive community re- SPonse to the strike, with many Unions and private citizens giv- ng the strikers moral as well 4s financial assistance.

At a recent meeting of the ‘Sudbury and District Labor Council it was agreed that the 1g a citizen support committee

Workers.

__ This is significant in that Lo-

Cal 598 is not a member of the _tabor Council because it is not ~8N affiliate of the Canadian La-

r Council.

The feeling in the community Which prompted the motion at

government’s .

ing the Communist Party in the.

the labor council centered on the |

katchewan’s William Beeching. —

Kashtan lashed out at the fe-

deral government for launching what he termed “an economic war measures act against the Canadian working people then issuing the cry in the press and in the speeches of the Prime Minister and his cabinet that the people have to tighten their belts. “A wage control program has been foisted on the Canadian people”, he said, “in the name of peace, order, and good gov- ernment whatever that means.” :

Turning to the government white paper. imaginatively en- titled “Attack on Inflation” Kashtan proceeded to critically evaluate its proposals.

“The first point that is evident upon examination of the gov- ernment plan”, said Kashtan, is that “the aim of this anti-infla- tion program is to maintain high unemployment even to stimulate it in order to prevent inflation from getting worse.

“Capitalism has reached a stage of development where it has become impossible for it to function now except through inflation and unemployment.”

Economy At Low Level

To solve its inflation problems it has to keep the economy oper- ating at a low level thus increas- ing unemployment. He pointed out that at present the Canadian people have in fact no choice

at all, with both unemployment |

and inflation.

| Strike in 11th gone. union holding firm

hardship which the strikers will now be facing as a result of the new government wage freeze.

Falconbridge is being regard- ed by the labor movement in Sudbury as a test or indicator of what could happen in future negotiations at the International ‘Nickle Co., and elsewhere.

The action to help the Falcon- bridge workers is as much an act of solidarity with the strik- ers as of protest against the Trudeau wage freeze.

Tom Walsh an_ executive board member of the labor coun- cil and a member of Local 6500,

United Steelworkers of America

stated: “Let’s show them there’s at least one local in Canada that is still holding out against this Trudeau nonsense.”

Local 598’s reaction to the .

wage freeze was expressed in a statement by the executive board and strike committee in the

* Oct. issue of the strike bulletin.

The statement accuses the Trudeau government of coming down “squarely ‘on the side of the big employers and against the working people of Canada.” It pledged that Mine-Mill would, “Join in the rising anger of the working people and their unions against thisfraud.”

With respect to the situation at Falconbridge the statement declared that they would make their views known “‘to the gov- ernment and to the members of parliament” in the area, keeping an eye at the same time on the legislation as it affects the nego-

tiations. -

x

Communists launch © , - Canada-wide drive

“The monopoly interests have come to the conclusion that they have to find some way of clean- ing inflation out of the economy even if it means bringing about mass unemployment, and even if it means using the stick against the working people.” The communist leader noted that it was not just a matter of passing interest that coincident with the submission of the wage

freeze legislation there are re- |

ports providing for the increase

KASHTAN TOUR DATES Communist leader William Kashtan’s tour as part of the Communist Party’s crusade against the Trudeau restraints program will include: Winnipeg — Tues., Oct. 28; Regina — Oct. 29, Edmonton and Calgary — Oct. 30; Mont- | real — Mon., Nov. 3; and Vancouver — Nov. 5.

of the police forces. “The only areas where the

‘government is trying to stimu-

late employment,” he said, “were in the huge bureaucracy which will be necessary to police the legislation and in the growth of police forces which will be ne- cessary to suppress the workers as they struggle to secure de- cent wages and living conditions in spite of the freege on their wages.

The second feature of this program which working people should take note of, Kashtan said, is that the program is dir- ected to depress wages.

He pointed out ‘that the in- crease only averaged out to 6% per year when there was no

guarantee that inflation would

not go beyond 6%.

Elimination of the workers’

right to free collective bargain- ing was a third feature of the legislation, he said. He quoted the Prime Minister when he said ‘recently “that the workers still have the right, the right to bar- gain and to strike beyond the guidelines, but there is no point in using it because the govern- ment will not cave in.” He drew a chuckle from the audience when he quoted a pas- sage from the white paper in reference to prices: “Companies are expected to refrain from increasing the price of any product more frequently than once every three months — re- tailers and wholesalers will be exempted.”

TORONTO — The second an- nual tenant’s rights conference held here Oct. 25-26 set out: the basic demands of tenants in Toronto and across the country and planned strategy for press- ing the current Ontario legisla- ture to adopt its program.

The conference was organized by -Toronto’s Federation of Me- tro Tenants’ . Associations (FMTA). The organization en- compasses 50 of the city’s tenant groups, and has, about 50,000 members. :

The two-day meeting held workshops. on tenants’ rights, the report of the City of Toron- to’s Task Force on the Status of Tenants, legal aid -and tenants and housing. _

A plenary session on the sec- ond day passed resolutions on strategy and adopted the FMTA brief on the status of tenants

- Trudeau’s incomes policy is not designed to cope with inflation. It is designed to cope with the working class, said Communist Party general secretary William Kashtan. He called on working people to organize their own crusade against this attack on living standards.

Guidelines create depressed wage area

Strikers balk at restraints

By E. ROGERS

THUNDER BAY — Through- out northwestern Ontario, work- ers are rejecting the Trudeau government wage restraints. Workers have waged the most

- bitter of strike struggles endeav- oring to ward off cut-backs in their living standards caused by inflation and erosion of their buying power in the pay enve- lopes.

The pulp and paper mills throughout this district stand to be depressed unduly if the legis- lation applies to their bargain- ‘ing. They have rejected, long ago, offers that match or even exceed what the new bill will allow them.

In addition Kashtan pointed out that housing and land cost, food costs, and energy will be exempt from the controls.

“In effect the only thing being controlled is wages,” he said.

Kashtan called on all those who supported the position that inflation should be defeated with working class policies aimed to protect the interests of the working people, to join with the Communist Party in the crusade to force the government to re-

treat from its position of wage.

‘freeze, and to help create the conditions whereby a govern- ment will be elected that will really represent the interests of the working people.

submitted to government mem- bers earlier in October.

The brief outlines basic pro- posals of the Federation for leg- islation regarding tenants’ rights, rent control and housing. It has received the endorsation -of Toronto’s city council reform caucus.

The brief makes four. basic proposals: that tenants be given security of tenure; rent controls be implemented and increases in rent be tied to increased operat-

ing costs; tenants be allowed to .

.bargain collectively with land- lords; and the government take responsibility to implement a. housing program that will sup- ply Ontarians with quality hous- ‘ing at affordable prices and rents. (See Tribune, Oct. 22 for detailed coverage of the propo- sals.)

The: plenary session passed

|

“It’s ridiculous,” they exclaim. Three to.four thousand workers are affected in this industry alone. Three paper mills in Thun- der Bay of the Abitibi chain ac- count for 980 while the Great Lakes Paper Mill, recently struck, has another 1,400 hands out. Special meetings of mem- berships have been going on for a week trying to sort out where they stand now.

The community is beginning to feel the effects of prolonged strikes. The mayors of major centres have met, along with some political people to try a hand at getting management back to bargaining. Thunder Bay’s mayor attended. His muni- cipal police beat up picketers on both the pulp and paper and Port Arthur Medical centre proper-

» ties.

With the new legislation be- hind him he strives to put work- ers back to work at cheap labor and 10%. Picketers on the Great Lakes gates ask: “How can they do it to us? What is 10% on top of $4.80 existing wages?” There will be no will to work.

“Prices, not wages need to be frozen,” was the response of Frank Mazur, a chief negotiator for the Grain Elevator Workers at the Lakehead. The Thunder Bay and District Labor Council issued a statement denouncing restraints on wages and called for controls on the real culprits

of price gouging.

Tenants set out basic demands

action proposals “to further ten-

ants’ rights in Ontario during the current legislative session.” They included: holding formal

meetings with government re- —

presentatives responsible for housing and tenants’ rights to present tenants’ rights proposals

arising out of the conference; a © phoning and letter writing cam- —

paign by tenants to MPP’s and the Minister of Housing; a peti- tion campaign; working with

municipalities to take tenants’

rights legislative. proposals to the government and securing the backing of organized labor for the conference proposals.

The conference, with more than 100 people registered, em- phasized the impatience of ten- ants with the provincial govern- ment’s stalling tactics and half-

baked proposals for rent control —

and tenants’ rights.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 31, 1975—Page 5 —